This Weekend in NFL Stupid, feat. the Colts, Mike Thomas and celebration penalties

This Weekend in NFL Stupid highlights the dumbest decisions in football throughout the season. This week, we start with an idiotic play call with the game on the line in Indianapolis.

Maybe just throw a high-percentage pass to your top receiver?

We don’t know if the play call was stupid or if Andrew Luck made a dumb decision, but either way, this was a silly approach to a last-gasp play from the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

Fourth-and-one for the Colts. Down by five to the Houston Texans with 1:24 remaining. No timeouts. And you do this…

The play was not well executed and Houston defended it well. But come on! It looked as though Luck’s first read was tight end Jack Doyle, the play offered little protection and his second read appeared to be backup running back Robert Turbin well back of the line of scrimmage.

When you’ve got T.Y. Hilton rolling, that’s just silly. And it’s something the Colts might have to spend a long time thinking about.

Maybe just take a knee?

It isn’t that Los Angeles Rams return man Mike Thomas muffed the opening kickoff Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, because mistakes happen in sports. No, it’s that Thomas was even trying to return the kick in the first place.

Thomas was four yards deep into the end zone when he muffed the kick, meaning he’d need to run the ball back 30 yards in order for his decision to make sense. The average NFL kick return is about 24 yards, and Thomas had failed to pick up more than 22 yards on his three career kick returns.

The decision caused Thomas to start running before he had the ball secured, which led to the muff, which led directly to an Atlanta touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. Things snowballed from there for the Rams, who were left wondering how different things might have been had Thomas just taken a knee to give Los Angeles the ball at the 25-yard line.

That probably wouldn’t have been enough to change things for a team that went on to lose by 28 points, but it was still stupid.

Maybe just let them harmlessly celebrate?

All season long, players have been penalized for having fun after scoring. It happens every year, but it seems as though this year the officials have really been focusing on illegal celebrations, even if they seem rather innocuous. With ratings down, it seems a little ridiculous that the league is cracking down on touchdown celebrations — mainly because you hardly ever hear fans complain about them.

Anyway, the latest example came Sunday, when Emmanuel Sanders of the Denver Broncos cost his team 15 yards because of this…

“As explained on Sunday’s edition of NBC’s Football Night in America, the NFL will be taking a closer look at player celebrations in the offseason. Specifically, the league office will produce for the Competition Committee a compilation of a wide variety of player celebrations.

“The evidence could prompt the Competition Committee to conclude that the rules regarding celebrations should be relaxed. This year, many players and fans have balked at the so-called No Fun League’s decision to flag and/or fine players for displaying excessive exuberance.”

What’s stupid, though, is that the league ever thought it was necessary to rain on celebrators’ parades.

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com, a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at CBSSports.com, Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Comeback Media, but his day gig has him covering the NFL nationally for Bleacher Report.

"I sent a text to each player individually to present an opportunity for open communication with me. Many members of our team chose to respond and have more in-depth conversations about issues and feelings. Marvin is right. It was a mistake to use the word 'every.' Particularly at this time, words are important, and I'm sorry."

"I sent a text to each player individually to present an opportunity for open communication with me. Many members of our team chose to respond and have more in-depth conversations about issues and feelings. Marvin is right. It was a mistake to use the word 'every.' Particularly at this time, words are important, and I'm sorry."